When hubby and I got married, we rented a small 2-bedroom, up-and-down apartment where we nestled for 3 years. I always wanted to decorate our house then but like what hubby would always say, it’s not practical to invest so much on pieces of furniture and other things on a place that we consider as temporary. So for 3 years, we endured the disorganized (no, chaotic is the better term) look of our house until we moved to our own place over a year ago.
It took us a combination of guts and a leap of faith to finally acquire our own home because we didn’t have a huge amount of money to begin with and a concrete timetable on when we would be getting a house. Too much had happened at that time — we getting married, moving to our rented place, the arrival of the Big Boy and the never-ending expenses thereafter. But we just realized that in a span of 3 years, we have been “throwing away” 14k every month for the rent which already amounts to half a million! A huge waste of money. And as what my MIL puts it, “para kaming naghuhulog sa butas na alkansya”. Valid point.
A dream home — a porch, lawn, plants, trees. 🙂 Via Better Homes & Gardens
So we began to actively look for a place we can call our own. There were a lot of considerations — proximity to our workplace, hospital and grocery, accessibility, susceptibility to flood, space for the kids to run around, floor area of the house, the neighborhood and of course, the most important of all, budget. I personally prefer a townhouse or a single-detached house over a condominium, particularly high-rise condos, primarily because I don’t like the idea of settling in a tall building literally. It doesn’t feel like living in a house! It feels like living in an office. With beds.
Also, having stayed in a condo in the past, its floor area tends to be very limited as if designed to accommodate Hobbits if not Snow White’s seven dwarves. And you are allowed to cramp all of your belongings only within the square meters that you purchase/rent. Also with a house, you own a physical land whose value appreciates quickly while in the case of condos, ownership is limited to the “airspace” and its value does not go up as fast as detached houses or townhouses.
Lovely flowering plants by the porch. How I wish we could have this in our current home. 😀 Via Countryfarm Lifetyles
Our search for our new home that’s ours led us to this residential development I was hesitant to consider until I personally saw the place. The moment we entered the gates, I fell in love with it. Hubby did too, the first time he visited the area. I imagined the Big Boy and the Little Princess running while squealing with joy around the playground. It was quiet and peaceful as if you were not living in a city. It may not be a piece of land as I wished but it perfectly suited our needs and budget.
- Via Home Bunch
A few months after, we moved in to this new abode. With our bank accounts almost depleted from the purchase of the house, we settled for the available items and furniture pieces that we have to “decorate” even if they looked awful inside our now more appealing house interiors (Imagine dining on poor old scathed monoblock tables resting against a newly painted wall 😀 ). We also needed to prioritize what we would acquire to fit in our little home given our limited funds. And much as we would like to have our home decorated by a professional designer, our budget does not permit as of now. So instead of waiting for our place to magically turn into a space like those that can be seen on the pages of Real Living or Apartment Therapy, we, especially I, awakened my hidden interest on interior design and started working little by little over time on improving our place.
A pleasant, cheery yard is love. 🙂 Via Better Homes & Gardens
Ours is not yet fully transformed as there are still a looooot of areas that we need to “prettify”– the kitchen (oh the kitchen!), the shoe rack/cabinet (where did I put the design I drafted, btw?), the family command center (my DIYs!), the photo gallery wall in our living room (apparently, it still displays the paper frame patterns I stuck last year 😀 ), the repainting job, our room, the kids’ room, etc, etc…panic attack! But it looks way better now than when we first moved in. I can say, it looks a bit like a house now. 😉 However, I’m not going to post before and after photos of our house because I didn’t even bother to take photos of our house in its gruesome state. What I’d like to share is how I’d like our home to look like. 🙂 At least, I’d have something inspiring to look at (and motivate me to start drafting our home improvement plan! :D).
I grew up in the province so I would like to come home after a tiring day’s work to a place that would give me a cozy, home-y, away-from-the-city feeling. Something cottage, farmhouse or rustic. I don’t like the modern design with warm, hotel-like beaming lights and shiny floor and furniture because it makes me feel like I’m coming to an office rather than a home.
Via Coastal Living
I’m drooling over those pallet woods! We MUST have that in our home! 🙂
And since hubby and I consider ourselves as happy people, our home needs to be vibrant and colorful giving a cheery vibe!
Not as colorful as this but you get the point 🙂 Via Forgie Home Staging
I particularly like the turquoise and orange color combination with a touch of yellow, green and gray.
I want a Chesterfield sofa, in leather ideally, because we have a toddler and a pre-schooler who can easily turn a white linen into brown. 😀
The tufting is so pretty! 🙂 Via HGTV
The pieces of furniture need to have distressed look to intensify the cottage-homey feel.
Traditional Entry by Crowley Media & Bloggers The Virginia House
When it comes to the kitchen, wood pallets must also be present – as backsplash! Oh, lovely! 🙂
Via Cromly
And a wooden kitchen island! 🙂
A distressed one at that! Pretty! Via Pinterest
Though our space is a bit small, I’d like to have a small kitchen bar counter also made of wood.
Via Etsy
My brother DIY-ed a bar counter out of wood scraps from my parents’ renovated home and I’m resisting all the urge to steal it and put in our home! 😀
For our dining area, I want our table to be made of natural wood with colorful, mismatched chairs!
Via At Home In Love
White table like this is also pretty! Look at the drawer! I like given our limited space. Via Atticmag
How I wish we can have a porch or balcony like this with lots of plants…
Via Digsdigs
And I’ll fill our home with loootttsss of DIYs!
*Swoon* 🙂
I’ve actually kept more photos of and inspirations for my cottage dream home on my Pinterest page. 🙂 You may want to take a peek here!
I think better stop dreaming and start preparing our home improvement plan this weekend. 🙂
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